The EC ensures that the will of the urban majority doesn't surpass that of the rural minority. Without the EC and with direct popular voting, candidates would be able to campaign only to the wishes of cities and basiaclly ignore the smaller population areas and still win elections.
That's not to say the electoral college system is great, but it's better than direct popular voting.
EDIT: And they don't vote based on the popular vote. The only two states I know of that do that are Maine and Nebraska. In most states the EC votes "winner take all" so no matter what the margin, the person with the most votes gets all electoral votes for the state. Maine and Nebraska are the only ones where the electoral votes are split proportionally to the popular vote.
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